The African Studies Centre (Afrika-Studiecentrum) is a scientific institute in the Netherlands that undertakes social-science research on

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

with the aim of promoting a better understanding of historical, current and future social developments in Sub-Saharan Africa. The centre is an interfaculty institute of Leiden University. The present director is Marleen Dekker. The institute is located in the Pieter de la Court Building of Leiden University’s Faculty of

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

Research

The research of the Afrika-Studiecentrum Leiden covers four themes: politics and security, society, religion and culture, and economics and history. Various projects study international relations of African countries with the

BRIC BRIC is a grouping acronym referring to the developing countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, which are identified as rising economic powers. It is typically rendered as "the BRIC," "the BRIC countries," "the BRIC economies," or alte ...

countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, economic development and entrepreneurship, and processes in African politics and legislation. Other areas of research are language use in social movements in Africa, new developments in healthcare through telecommunications and

e-health eHealth (also written e-health) is a relatively recent healthcare practice supported by electronic processes and communication, dating back to at least 1999. Usage of the term varies as it covers not just "Internet medicine" as it was conceived ...

(electronic health), natural conservation and African

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

. The Afrika-Studiecentrum publishes scientific articles and various books about its research, in-house or in collaboration with publishers such as

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

, including the Africa Yearbook and the series ''African Dynamics'', the ''African Studies Collection'', and the ''Africa Study Center Series''. The topics range from international migration to social aspects of football in Africa. Most books also appear in an electronic (online) version. The Afrika-Studiecentrum annually awards a prize for the best Master's thesis in the field.

Library

The centre's library consists of some 90,000 books and about 2,000 journals (including electronic journals), government reports, brochures, African newspapers and about 1,700 documentaries and feature films on video and DVD. The centre has also developed a web service, ''Connecting-Africa'', with links to more than 58,000 online articles about Africa. The library also has a collection of archival material including archives of African government publications and a number of personal archives.

History

The centre was founded on 12 August 1947 as the academic division of an Afrika Instituut, which initially also had an economic section, later spun off as the

Netherlands-African Business Council Netherlands-African Business Council (NABC) is a non-profit organization for Dutch companies trading and investing in Africa and vice versa. It supports its members with their activities in Africa by promoting trade with the continent. NABC ha ...

. Over the years, many well-known Dutch Africanists have worked at the African Studies Centre, including the poet Vernie February, the activist Klaas de Jonge, the sociologist Robert Buijtenhuijs and the law professor and film director Emile van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal. Legal scholar Hans Holleman served as a director from 1963 to 1969. Barbara Harrell-Bond worked at the centre in the 1970s, as did Deborah Bryceson in the 1990s.

Kofi Abrefa Busia Kofi Abrefa Busia (born 11 July 1913 – 28 August 1978) was a Ghanaian political leader and academic who was Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969 to 1972. As a nationalist leader and prime minister, he helped to restore civilian government to th ...

, who later became prime minister of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, worked at the African Studies Centre between 1959 and 1962. Former director Stephen Ellis was editor in chief of '' Africa Confidential''.

Petrus Johannes Idenburg Petrus Johannes Idenburg (28 January 1898, Hillegersberg, Netherlands – 27 December 1989, The Hague) was a jurist specialized in constitutional law, lector at Leiden University, and researcher on Africa. He graduated in law in 1920 from the Un ...

, lector of African constitutional law at Leiden University, was one of the founders of the centre. The centre was one of the founders of

AEGIS The aegis ( ; grc, αἰγίς ''aigís''), as stated in the ''Iliad'', is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. There may be a connection with a d ...

, a network of African Studies Centres in Europe that was set up in 1991 to build upon the resources and research potential available within Africanist institutions in Europe. As of 1 January 2016, the African Studies Centre is a part of Leiden University. On 1 April 2021, Marleen Dekker became the new director of the ASC replacing Jan Bart Gewald who had been director since 2017.

Publications

The centre publishes extensively, sometimes in cooperation with publishers such as Brill Publishers in Leiden. Among the ASC publications are: * '' Africa Yearbook'' () * ''

African studies abstracts online African Studies Abstracts Online (ASAO) was a quarterly abstracting service covering academic journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities. It was published by the Afrika-Studiecentrum Leiden ...

'' () * ''Kroniek van Afrika'' (1961-1975, )

References

External links

*
Connecting-Africa (online articles)

AfricaBib (bibliographic database)

AEGIS (network of African studies centres in Europe)

Kroniek van Afrika, online access
{{Authority control Archives in the Netherlands Academic libraries in the Netherlands African studies Research institutes in the Netherlands Leiden University Research institutes established in 1947 1947 establishments in the Netherlands